Dan Walter — Founder, Strategist, Retail executive, AI builder
I help companies become AI-native — and build it myself.
Hi, I’m Dan.
A former management consultant, founder and retail executive — now an AI builder. I spent two decades building and transforming businesses at scale, and I now spend my days building AI-native systems and companies.
Swiss by origin, based in Sydney, father of two. I read a lot, build constantly, and think the AI shift is the most interesting thing happening in the world right now.
What I do now
I help organisations become AI-native — and I build AI-native systems myself, so the thinking is tested in practice, not drawn on a slide.
The digital revolution put companies online. The AI revolution remakes how they operate — their architecture, their speed, their cost base. I work at that level: cutting through complexity to the few questions that actually matter, then designing and building the systems that act on them.
Some of that is advisory. Most of it, lately, is building.
Two decades building businesses at scale
The operator lens I bring to every strategic conversation — most recently, building AI-native.
- Best Mate Meals — Founder & strategic advisor (2025 — now). Building Best Mate Meals as a near single-operator, AI-native company, and advising CEOs and founders on AI-native operating models — tested in a live business, not on a slide.
- Woolworths Group — Executive leadership (2018 — 2024). Led strategy, transformation, digital, eCommerce and loyalty across major retail brands, and helped steer the BIG W turnaround as part of the executive team.
- HelloFresh Switzerland — Founder & Managing Director (2016 — 2017). Founded and scaled HelloFresh Switzerland as part of the global founders team, through to the group’s IPO.
- The Boston Consulting Group — Consultant, Zürich (2011 — 2013). Strategy, transformation and quantitative problem-solving across industries.